


The Phoenix From The Ashes

by etcetera_etc



Category: Vis a Vis | Locked In (Spain TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-08
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:15:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 20,931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25791211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/etcetera_etc/pseuds/etcetera_etc
Summary: "It’s gonna be fine“, Macarena continued, her voice on the verge of breaking. Another tear fell down at the brunette’s chest that was just ever so slightly heaving. "You’re gonna be fine. I’m here. I’m here for you. Just for you.“Alternative ending to 'El Oasis', picks up in the final episode.
Relationships: Zulema Zahir/Macarena Ferreiro
Comments: 210
Kudos: 269





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Well, I am back!  
> After a short break of writing, I just couldn't wait anymore and started with this new fic. It has no direct connection to my previous fic 'The Air We're Breathing' (https://archiveofourown.org/works/24253723/chapters/58447138) since it is my take at an alternative ending of 'El Oasis'.  
> I hope you like it, I'm always happy about feedback so don't hold back your thoughts about it :)  
> Happy reading!

They were running so fast that Zulema could have sworn her feet weren't even touching the ground anymore. She felt like she was flying, racing through the desert with a speed that couldn't be human anymore. She felt alive. And she knew that this was it, that this _must_ be it. Her mind was screaming for her to keep running, to get the fuck out of here and to reach that helicopter, but what values did her mind hold anymore. Even though her survival instincts told her something else, she knew, deep down, that this was what she needed; dying on the pinnacle of life.

And so she slowed down her pace until she was merely jogging, then she came to a halt, resting her hands on her knees and looking up to the blonde.

Macarena. The woman who had accompanied her all the way. Her companion, her friend, her lover, her home.

"What the hell are you doing?", yelled the blonde, who had stopped in her tracks the moment she had noticed that Zulema was no longer running. " _Vamos!"_

"Get out of here", panted Zulema while pushing herself off her knees again and looking directly at the blonde. Her heart was aching, but she told herself that it was due to all the running.

"No", whispered Macarena, an incredulous look on her face.

" _Tranquila_ ", said Zulema. "I'm not doing this for you."

"No, Zulema…-"

She was just making it worse, couldn't she see that?

" _Cuidate._ You're not alone anymore."

A sob broke through Macarena's chest and Zulema felt her own throat tighten but, _no,_ this was it. Macarena took a step towards Zulema, one trembling hand brushing over the brunette's face and lingering in her hair for a moment before Zulema grabbed it and pushed it away. She could not have this anymore.

"Zulema", said Macarena, her voice heavy from suppressed tears. "Don't do this, please."

Zulema squeezed her eyes shut, taking a step back from the blonde. "Run", she said. "And don't look back." In the distance she could hear the engines of the Land Rovers howling. Another sob from the blonde cut through the air and Zulema thought she might have to suffocate.

"Run!", she pressed out, then the cars turned around a corner and sped directly at them. Then, she added, her voice a whisper; "Please."

Macarena swallowed down another sob took a faltering breath. "Gracias", she whispered, her eyes overflowing with tears. Then, she turned around and finally, _finally_ ran.

Zulema had to bite the inside of her cheek until she was tasting blood to not cry out loud. This was it. It was for the best. No more suffering now. No more pain. _No more pain._ She repeated this like a mantra. _No more pain._ Both physical and emotional, because she didn't even know which one was worse.

_No more pain._

She turned around and dropped to her knees, resting her head on the heated sand of the desert.

_No more pain._

She heard the cars coming to a halt, but no gunshots were to be heard even though they had plain sight. Oh, if they would just shoot.

_No more pain._

She lifted her head to find at least half a dozen guns directed at her, and only at her. Good. She slowly stood up again, pushing herself off the ground until she was standing straight, facing the hitmen.

_No more pain._

Her hands opened and her guns dropped to the ground, landing in the sand with a thud. Her mind was still trying to tell her to keep on fighting because it was not too late, but she knew that it was. It was for her. Her time was up. But there was still no bullett flying towards her, indicating that it truly _had to be_ over. But it hat to.

She raised her right hand, forming a gun with her fingers and pointing it at the hitmen, pulling it backwards as if she were firing off a bullett. But no bullett came for her. She raised her second arm to repeat the motion. This time, it had the effect she had wished for.

She heard the shot a second before she felt an excessive pain exploding just below her right shoulder. She groaned and stumbled back by the impact but before she could catch herself, another bullett graced her left arm, making her cry out loud. She squeezed her eyes shut but that didn’t do anything to stop the next bullet from tearing up her stomach and making her double over. She felt the blood leak out of her at the speed of lighning as she stumbled once more and nearly lost her footing completely. It was excruciating. The scream she let out was fueled by her last strength, her last power, and it came out like the roar of a wounded lion.

The next bullet hit her right in the chest. Her breath was taken away from her and her scream was cut off. Of course. They woulnd’t want her to go down roaring; they wanted her silent. That last shot had been meant just to silence her, to make her choke on her last scream like the scream itself had been the thing that killed her, like her final strength had been her undoing.

Then she fell. Her body crumbled down and she felt like all those bleeding wounds were suddenly one big wound that made her whole body hurt so much that she felt like it would rupture at any second. Her eyes turned towards the sky, then she hit the ground with a thud that was so final that she was sure that this was really, truly, and without a doubt, _it._

Her ending.

Her head lulled sideway’s and she tasted metal. By now, she was feeling numb from all the pain that was just too much to bear. But not for much longer. Because soon, she was sure of it, there would be _no more pain._ Soon. Very soon. 

Her eyes fell close and she let her mind drift away. The last image that appeared in front of her inner eye before darkness overcame her was the face of Macarena. Then, there was nothing anymore.

* * *

Macarena ran. The helicopter was coming closer with each step she took which only made her fasten her steps. She had nearly reached it, when suddenly, a shot echoed through the desert. Macarena gasped and stopped in her tracks, her heart missing a beat. Another shot, then a scream. A scream from a person she knew so damn well that she would recognize her voice in a hundred.

_No. No, no, no!_

Another shot. _Dear God._ And another one. An animalic scream, cut off by yet _another_ shot, then there was silence.

_No._

Macarena felt her knees getting weak but she forced herself to keep running. In the distance she could hear the engines of the trucks. She stumbled towards the helicopter, jumped inside and let herself fall onto one of the seats.

Her mind was racing just as fast as her heart. This couldn't be.

The helicopter took off. The hitmen turned around the corner, speeding up when seeing the helicopter. Macarena took out her gun and fired at them. Multiple times, wishing for her bullets to kill each of them. They fired back but the helicopter was already too high in the air for the bullets to reach them. Macarena fired another shot, blindly, just because they fucking deserved it.

She leaned back in her seat, panting. Her mind was racing just like her heart but neither of them could catch up to the events that had just occured. Or maybe she just didn’t want them to catch up to them. But just a second later, that became inevitable; when a black spot on the dusty ground came into her eye-sight. A black spot that definetely didn't belong there. Her heart missed a beat and she sucked in a breath.

Zulema.

Without thinking twice, she grabbed her seatbelt and fiddled at the fastener. "Pull down!", she yelled at the pilot. "Pull the helicopter down!"

The pilot shook his head, holding his curse. "No."

Macarena’s breath catched in her throat, her fingers still trying to open her seatbelt. "I said, pull the fucking helicopter down!"

He continued to shake his head. Macarena let out a groan and finally, her shaky fingers managed to loosen her seatbelt. She pushed it off her lap and leaped towards the pilot, pointing her gun at his temples in one fluid movement.

"You pull this thing down _right now._ Or I will“, she snarled.

The pilot threw her a quick glance. " _Mierda_ “, he cursed, then he looked at the black figure at the ground, pulled one of the levers and finally, the helicopter lowered.

Macarena staggered towards the exit and held onto one of the seats. Her hair was flying all around her and in front of her face, but even with blonde strands of hair in front of her eyes she could see the still body of Zulema in the sand. Too still. A sob broke through her chest.

_No. Please, no._

She jumped out of the helicopter before it even touched the ground. It took her just a few steps to get to Zulema. When she saw the blood leaking out of the brunette’s body, she dropped to her knees. Her hands were on Zulema’s body instantly, trying to find the wounds from where the blood came, but there were too many for her hands to cover. The most crucial ones, however, were one on her stomach and another one on her chest and she pressed down on them even though the blood was flowing out of it so visciously that it was spilling through her fingers. She didn’t realize that she was crying until tears fell down onto Zulema’s body and sobs made her hands temble.

"Zulema“, she whispered, her voice quivering. "Please.“

"Your biddings won’t help her.“

Macarena flinched at the sudden voice of the pilot. Her head jerked up to see the man crouching down beside her, in his hands several towels. He let them fall into the sand next to Macarena.

"Press them down at the wounds“, he said, his gaze fixed at the brunette’s face.

Macarena took her hand of Zulema’s chest, took one of the towels and pressed it onto the wound. She did the same with the one at the brunette’s stomach while the pilot pressed two fingers against Zulema’s neck. A few seconds later he removed them, his eyes directed at Macarena. The blonde’s breathing stopped. 

"Keep on pressing“, the pilot said with a nod while pushing himself off the ground. Still crouched down though, he slid his arms beneath Zulema’s body. Macarena took a faltering breath.

"She is…“, she began, but found herself unable to finish the sentence. The pilot looked at her with a stern look on this face.

"Alive“, he said. "Barely. We have to hurry.“

Macarena’s heart missed a beat. _Alive._

The pilot stood up, slowly, with Zulema in his arms. Macarena stood up silmultaneously, keeping her hands firmly pressed down at the towels covering the wounds. They started moving towards the helicopter, Zulema between Macarena and the pilot. At the entrance, the pilot nodded for Macarena to get in first, then he placed Zulema beside her on the floor, threw the door shut and jumped onto his seat, starting the propeller at once.

"Try to keep her body still“, he said with a last glance back to them. "I’ll try to fly swiftly.“

Macarena nodded while letting out a shaking breath. Keeping her hands on Zulema’s wounds, she carefully lifted her leg over the brunette’s body and positioned it on the other side of Zulema’s hip, then she adjusted her position so that her legs were practically holding the brunette’s waist still while the blonde was kneeling above her. The helicopter took off and Macarena felt a tear running down her cheek. It fell right onto Zulema’s chest.

"Hold on, Zule“, she whispered, looking down at the brunette’s still face. "Please. Hold on. I know you can.“

The only response she got was the roaring of the helicopter.

"It’s gonna be fine“, Macarena continued, her voice on the verge of breaking. Another tear fell down at the brunette’s chest that was just ever so slightly heaving. "You’re gonna be fine. I’m here. I’m here for you. Just for you.“

At the sight of the woman beneath her, Macarena felt like breaking down. Like collapsing, like giving up, but she knew she couldn’t. She had to be strong. If not for herself, then for Zulema. Because Zulema needed her right now. And she needed Zulema. So she took a faltering breath, sniffed, and kept on pressing down at the wounds.

Because she would not let Zulema Zahir die on her.


	2. Chapter 2

Macarena didn't know how long they had been flying; it might have been half an hour or just as well twice as long, she couldn't be sure. When the helicopter finally pulled down, she had changed the towels on Zulema's wounds twice and finally, the blood seemed to clot and the fabric was not as fast drenched as before. Or maybe there was just no more blood left to flow out.

Macarena shook her head. _No._ That was not it. Zulema would make this. She _always_ made it. Always. _Until now,_ echoed inside her head, but Macarena pushed those thoughts away because she could not break down now. Not with Zulema laying beneath her with blood all over her torn up body. She had to be strong for both of them now. Because she knew Zulema would be atrong as well, if only she could.

"We're landing", said the pilot from the front of the helicopter.

Macarena adjusted the grip she had wirth her knees on Zulema's body to keep the brunette still. The helicopter budged and swayed on the final meters until it finally stood still. The sound of the propeller faded away and for a moment silence filled the helicopter. Then, the pilot flung open his door and jumped out, just to quickly make his way to Macarena's door and open it as well. He shortly glanced at Zulema, then he looked at the blonde.

"Don't move", he said. "I'll get help."

He was already turning around when Macarena threw a first glance outside of the helicopter. There was a small cottage in what seemed to be a remote, deserted area with no other house in sight.

"Wait", she said, a slight feeling of panic creeping up inside of her. "Where are we? I thought we'd fly to… a hospital or something. She needs a hospital, she…-"

"She told me to get you here", interrupted the pilot. "No matter what state you're in. Either of you." And with that, he turned and jogged towards the cottage.

Macarena turned towards Zulema again, trying control her breathing in order to not freak out completely. It was only when the door to the cottage opened and an all too familiar voice greeted the man, that her feeling of irritation was washed away.

"Prepare things for a surgery inside", said the pilot roughly.

"Fuck, surgery? Mala, you heard him. God damn it, I knew this was not going to go well!"

Saray. Never had Macarena ever been this happy to hear the _gitana's_ voice. And to see her face only a few seconds later. The woman stood at the exit of the helicopter, her hair falling thickly over her shoulders and her eyes big while she took in the scene in front of her.

"Fuck", she breathed, then she jumped inside of the helicopter.

Macarena felt her breath faltering. "Saray", she whispered shakingly. "I… she….-"

"How many bullets?", asked the brunette while letting her hands slide carefully over Zulema's body. Macarena took a shaking breath.

"Three, I think. Another one graced her, maybe the one in her shoulder is already out as well, I don't know, I didn't want to…-"

"No, it's fine. It's fine. Those two ones are the gravest, right?", Saray asked while nodding towards where Macarena was preesing on the towels.

Macarena nodded. "Yeah." 

"Alright. You", Saray said, addressing the pilot. "Help me carry her inside. You keep your hands steady on those wounds", she said a bit more softly to Macarena.

The blonde nodded, swallowing down a sob. Saray took Zulema by her upper body while the pilot took her legs. The gitana nodded towards him and they stood up silmultaneously, Macarena with them. They carefully guided Zulema's body out of the helicopter, then they made their way towards the house. Saray threw a guick glance at Zulema's face.

"How long has it been?", she asked.

"Around twentyfive minutes", said the pilot.

"Alright."

Just as they were in front of the open door, a woman with long, black hair stepped outside and sharply looked at what was happening in front of her. "Into the kitchen", she said and already turned around again, vanishing behind a corner where the kitchen must be. They followed her swiftly, Saray leading the way, and a few moments later they stood inside a big kitchen with a giant sideboard in the middle of the room. A large tarp was spread out on it and the woman with the black hair gesticulated for them to lay Zulema down on it. They carefully did. The pilot stepped back as soon as the brunette lay, as did Saray who instantly reached for a pair of scissors beside her. Macarena stood next to Zulema like glued to the ground. The brunette looked dead. But she had already looked like that in the desert, so why should now be any different from that.

Suddenly a warm hand took hold of Macarena's wrist. The blonde's head jerked up and suddenly there were tears blurring the image of Saray who was looking at her.

"You can let go now", she said while gently leading Macarena's hand away from Zulema's body.

"But…", said Macarena, her arms hanging limply down her sides. "I can't just… I could help you. Let me help you, Saray, _por favor_."

Saray shook her head while taking the towels away from Zulema's body, grabbing the fabric of her shirt and cutting it apart, exposing the sight of a ripped apart body that made Macarena's throat dry out. Meanwhile, the black haired woman had opened a fridge and taken out something that looked like a bag filled with blood, connecting it with Zulema by plunging a needle into her elbow. 

"We got this, Maca", Saray said while putting on gloves and an apron. "We got this. You go and wait outside, Estrella is somewhere in the garden, go… play with her or something. Or get cleaned up, first of all, the bath is just down the corridor. But just let us handle this."

Macarena nodded slowly. Her eyes fell down to her hands and found them covered in blood. So much blood.

"You get the bullets and I prepare the stitching?", asked the black haired woman who was holding several instruments in her hands. Saray nodded, her eyes still directed at Macarena while taking a pair of tweezers and a scalpel into her hand.

"You need to go now", she said to Macarena with a stern look on her face. "We'll do everything we can."

Macarena took a faltering breath, nodding again. _Everything they can_. She could only hope that that would be enough. Subconsciously, her hand reached out to grab Zulema's, leading it up to her mouth. It was cold. She placed a soft kiss on it and closed her eyes, letting a tear escape out of them.

"You can do this", she whispered angainst Zulema's soft skin. "Stay strong." 

When she opened her eyes again, she saw Saray looking at her with an expression softer than before. Macarena sniffed, wiped her wet cheeks and lay Zulema's hand back to her side, squeezing it one last time before letting go of it.

Then she went outside. The door fell shut behind her and it was only then that she broke down. She slid down the wall of the corridor, sank to the ground and cried like she hadn't cried in a long, long time. Tears spilled out of her eyes with no end and sobs shook her whole body. It was all crashing down at her; the exhaustion, the fear, the stress, but most of all the guilt. Guilt so heavy that it took her breath away. She had run. Like a fucking coward she had run away from Zulema, leaving her behind for the hitmen to take. It had been what Zulema had wanted, she knew that, but that didn't make it any better. Because now she realised that she should have talked this studpid idea out of Zulema, because, _fuck,_ she still had time, even if that time was limited. If now she died…. Macarena would never forgive herself. Never. In her whole life, she would never forgive herself for leaving Zulema behind like she meant nothing to her. Because she meant a fucking lot to her. More than any person she knew. More than any person she had _ever_ known.

"Why are you crying?"

Macarena flinched at the sudden sound of a voice. A sweet voice. Looking up, she saw a girl of twelve, maybe, standing a few feet away from her and eyeing her curiously. Macarena wiped her cheeks and put on a weary smile.

"Oh, I… I'm just… My friend isn't feeling very well, you know. I'm… a bit worried about her."

The girl smiled as well, even though her's was more of a compassionate smile, an honest smile. "Is your friend the woman you brought with the helicopter?"

"Yeah."

The girl came closer and let herself slide down the wall beside Macarena. "What happened to her?"

Macarena took a faltering breath. There was no way that she would tell a twelve year old what had happened. "Someone hurt her", she stated flatly. "Quite badly."

The girl was quiet for a second. "I'm sure she'll be fine", she said, her voice so soft and sweet that Macarena was almost tempted to believe her. "My Moms often treat their friends when they are hurt. You are a friend of my Moms', aren't you?"

Macarena smiled weakly. "I guess so, yes. And you're Estrella, then?"

The girl's face lit up. "Yes. Do you know my Mom from prison?"

Macarena nodded. "Yeah, actually."

Estrella sat upright, her eyes wide open. "Really? Who are you, then?"

"Macarena. But you can call me Maca."

Estrella's hand flung up and covered her mouth. "No", she breathed, her eyes even bigger than before. "You're Macarena? _La rubia?_ And your friend is Zulema? Zulema Zahir?"

Macarena's smile faltered a bit but she tried to keep it on her face. "Yeah."

"No way", said Estrella. "My Mom talks so much about you and sometimes we see stuff about you on TV or in the newspaper but I never thought that you'd actually come here one day, I mean… here. To our house. That's so cool. I mean, no", she said, raising her hands and suddenly looking shocked about her own outburst. "No, no, no, I'm sorry about what happened, really. I hope your friend… Zulema will be fine, of course. There's nothing cool about that, I'm sorry, I didn't mean that."

"I know what you meant, it's alright", said Macarena, running a hand through her hair and pushing it behind her ears. "I hope the things your Mom told you about us were nice", she added with a small wink.

Estrella leaned back again, letting her head fall against the wall while still looking at Macarena. "Well, she sometimes says how stupid you are", says the girl with a small giggle. "But she never really means it. She always told me how she and Zulema were… are like sisters to each other and that she is _la puta ama."_

A smile arose on Macarena's lips. _La puta ama._ Zulema truly was that.

"She always said that you must be crazy or kidnapped by Zulema if you did all that robberies and stuff with her." Another giggle. "But you don't seem crazy to me. Neither kidnapped."

That made Macarena pause. Was she crazy? Maybe. She certainly didn't feel all sane, at least not in all things regarding Zulema. But was she really crazy, then? Or was she just crazy _for Zulema?_

"Yeah, I'm not", she mumbled, not really tempted to think or talk much more about that right now.

Estrella's eyes fell on Macarena's hands that were resting on her pulled up knees.

"I thought so", she said. "Don't you want to wash that off? I can show you the bathroom. And then I can show you my room. Or my chickens. We have chickens in the garden." The girl stood up, offering Macarena a hand. The blonde took it and stood up as well. As they were making their way towards the bathroom, Estrella kept on babbling about their chickens, their donkeys and their newly born cats. Her talking about topics that normal was strangely soothing and Macarena found herself agreeing to everything the girl said.

When they reached the bathroom and the blood spilled from Macarena's hands into the sink, getting washed away faster than she could watch, she asked Estrella to wait outside for her. The girl nodded and went ahead. By the time a door was heard falling close, the blood was nearly completely gone. Macarena turned off the water before her hands were completely clean; small droplets of blood were still on her palm, but she let them be. She couldn't get herself to erase that last signs of Zulema's life on her hands. So she went outside, covering her palm with her jacket. Protecting those signs of Zulema's life, hoping that it would somehow help in protecting Zulema's life itself.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for your amazing feedback for this fic, it makes me really happy to read all your nice comments!  
> This chapter will address some questions a few of you had (about Zulema's illness, most of all), but the next chapter will have something in store regarding that as well, so don't despair ;)

It was well past midnight when the gate to the garden opened and Saray stepped outside, her apron and her shirt all bloody. She slowly made her way towards Macarena who was sitting with Estrella on a small bench next to the chicken enclosure. The blonde jumped up the moment she spotted the _gitana,_ her throat running dry and her heart thumping in her throat. The girl beside her also stood up, grabbing hold of Macarena's hand and squeezing it lightly. Macarena was thankful for it.

"Estrellita", said Saray who had come to a halt in front of them. "What are you doing here, you should be in bed."

The woman's voice sounded tired. When she reached out for her daughter and ran a hand through her hair, her movements seemed slower than usual as well. Was that an indication for dejection? Had the surgery come to late? Had something gone wrong? Or was she just exhausted from operating her friend for several hours?

"I couldn't leave Maca alone", said Estrella. Saray's gaze softened and she looked from her daughter to Macarena.

"Of course", she said. "Did you two have a good time?"

"Your daughter is a sweetheart", said Macarena flatly, her voice more unstable than she thought it would be. "How did things go?", she pressed out. She couldn't stand waiting anymore.

Saray let out a sigh, rubbing her temples. "Estrella, would you now please go inside? I'm with Maca now, it's alright."

Macarena's heart dropped to her stomach. If Saray didn't want to talk about this in front of Estrellla, then things must be bad. Really bad.

"You saved her, didn't you?", Estrella asked, her voice suddenly sounding a lot more mature than the hours before. "Zulema? She's fine now. Right?"

Saray looked from Estrella to Macarena and back to Estrella, then she forced a smile onto her lips. "Of course we did, _cariño._ Zulema is… gonna be fine. Now go inside, before I carry you."

A smile lit up the girl's face as she turned to Macarena. The blonde felt tempted to smile, to feel happy about the _gitana's_ words as well, but something about Saray's tone stopped her from it. So she gave the girl a little, reassuring smile, though, squeezed her hand one more time and then let go of it. "You heard your Mom", she said, surprised that her words came out just barely quavering. "Go to bed. We'll see each other tomorrow."

The girl nodded, still smiling happily, then she jogged towards the house, leaving the two women alone in the dimly illuminated garden. For a moment they just stood there staring at each other, then Macarena couldn't bear it anymore. "Plase tell me that what you just said was not a lie", she said, and now her voice sounded like it could break any given moment.

Saray swallowed. Then she shook her head. "No. Of course not. She… well, she is alive."

Macarena's breath faltered. "But…?", she inquiered, because she knew there was something the other woman wasn't telling her.

Saray avoided her gaze, looking at the ground instead. "She has lost so much blood, Maca", she said quietly. "The bullet in her breast, it… grazed her lounge. For a moment I thought… Fuck, I thought we were gonna lose her. But somehow, we managed it and got her back. So, yeah, she lives. But it really took a lot out of her and her condition is… critical. She's barely breathing and, uh… Mala said the night will show if she'll make it or not. We won't be able to open her up again, she's just too unstable for that, so if her vitals go down during the night", her voice became rough and she cleared her thorath, looking at Macarena again before finishing her sentence. "Then there's nothing more we can do."

 _Nothing more we can do._ The words echoed in Macarena's head as if someone had put them on repeat, making her feel like her head was spinning. She noticed that she was nodding, absently. It was as if her body weren't under her control anymore, slowly but surely spiraling out of it.

"Mala, my wife, is with her now but I will stay with her for the night in case… you know, in case something happens. You wanna come with me?"

Macarena slowly lifted her head. "Yes", she breathed. "Yes, of course."

Saray nodded. "Alright", she said quietly. "Come on, then." She turned and gestured for Macarena to follow her. The blonde did so automatically, her feet subconsciously carrying her over the lawn and through the gate into the house where only a few lights were still on. In front of the kitchen, they stopped. Saray put her hand on the doorhandle, threw Macarena a short glance, then she pushed the door open.

Just one single lamp next to a window illuminated the vast kitchen; the other light came from monitors next to the sideboard. Where Zulema was laying. Macarena's breath catched in her throat upon seeing the other woman. Her black her spilled over a pillow that Saray's wife, Mala, was just adjusting under Zulema's head. Up to her collar, her whole body was covered by a thin, soft looking blanket. She looked small, tiny almost. Without noticing, Macarena had statrted moving towards Zulema, stopping right beside the brunette. Her face looked relaxed; there was no more blood on it, the two women must have washed it off, and if it weren't for her utterly pale face and the respirator, the monitors and blood conserves connected to her, one could think that she was just peacefully sleeping. But there _were_ all those things and Macarena couldn't just ignore them.

She let out a shaky breath, averting her gaze from the brunette for a second. She knew damn well that this was exactly what Zulema had not wanted; dying in a hospital. While this technically wasn't a hospital, it was still pretty close to it, and Macarena knew that Zulema would despise it. That's why she had let herself be taken down by Ramala's men, after all; because she wanted to die on her own conditions. And while Macarena could see her reasons and could somehow even understand them, it just wasn't that easy. The brunette had still been alive when they had taken her into the helicopter, hell, she was still alive _now_ and how should Macarena just have let her die? How should she have let the woman that she had spent the past few years with bleed to death in a desert where sooner or later, either the hitmen would or the vultures would have retracted her? It made Macarena's blood boil that the brunette would even expect that from her.

"Be careful not to touch her upper body."

Macarena turned her head to see Saray's wife standing behind her, a few cleaned instruments in her hand, and looking right at the blonde.

"Of course", mumbled Macarena. Under the thin blanket, the outlines of thick bandages were to be seen. She would not dare touch them.

"They didn't get a shot at you?"

Macarena's heart missed a beat. Mala was still looking at her, her gaze neutral, but Macarena felt like her words were accusing her. But maybe it was just her guilty conscience catching up to her and the black haired woman was just being curious.

"No", she stated, then she turned towards Zulema again.

"But four at her?"

The blonde closed her eyes. Now, she was sure that the words were meant to sound accusingly. They cut into her like a knife.

"She…", she began, having to take a breath to keep her voice from shaking. "She stayed behind."

"She _what?",_ asked Saray and Macarena heard her taking a step forward.

Macarena kept her gaze directed at the unconscious woman in front of her, determined not to break down yet again. "She asked me to get to the helicopter and stayed behind to face the hitmen who were following us."

"But… Why? She never would have won a shoot-off against, what, a dozen men."

Macarena let out a shaking breath. "Yeah. She knew that."

She was met with silence. "What are you saying?", asked Saray after a few seconds. Her voice was unusually high. "What are you even talking about, Maca?"

Macarena swallowed before turning around to face Saray. "She didn't want to win that shoot-off. It wasn't a shoot-off at all, anyway, because she… she didn't shoot back. She just… she let them shoot her."

Saray slowly shook her head, her eyes staring daggers at Macarena. "No", she said. "No, you're lying. Zulema would never, in her whole life, go down without a fight. Never."

A shaky sigh escaped Macarena. She wished she could be just as convinced of that as Saray. "She wanted to die, Saray. She wanted me to leave and herself to die there."

The _gitana_ was on her within an instant; she grabbed Macarena by the collar, swirled her around and pushed her against one of the drawers next to the window. "That is not true!", Saray said between gritted teeth. "There is no reason why Zulema would ever…-"

"She got a tumor, Saray!", Macarena pressed out, grabbing Saray be the wrists and wrenching the woman away from her. Saray stumbled back and into Mala who was standing right behind her. The black haired woman supported Saray by the waist and gently squeezed it while still staring at Macarena, just like Saray.

"What?", whispered the _gitana._

"Brain cancer", said Macarena, a bit more quietly. "The doctor gave her a few more months. But she… she didn't want that Goddamn thing to be the cause of her death, so she took it into her own hands and… well." Her hand weakly made a motion towards Zulema just to fall limply to her side again a moment later.

"I can't believe this", whispered Saray, her voice quivering. "But… I mean, are you sure?"

Denial. Macarena had been there as well, but she was long over this stage. "She had an CAT scan", said the blonde, sticking to the facts because she knew that was the way Zulema would deal with things. "She takes meds for her hallucinations and headaches but I fell like… it only gets worse, you know."

"At which hospital did she take the CAT?", asked Mala, her hands still on Saray's waist whose face hand grown nearly as pale as Zulema's by now.

"I… I don't know", Macarena said, a bit perplexed at the question, because she had actually never bothered to ask. But then, something popped into her mind. "I got her meds, though, I took them because I… well, I didn't think her plan would end like this", she said bitterly while already digging her hands into her inner pockets. She pulled out two small pill boxes and gave them to Mala, who took them and read the emblemes. Then she opened one of the boxes, took a pill out of it and let it roll over the palm of her hand. Her brows were pulled into a deep frown.

"I'm gonna go check some stuff, okay?", she said while stepping back from Saray and throwing Zulema a last glance. "You watch over her?", she asked. Macarena nodded and Saray curtly moved her head approvingly as well. And just like that, Mala was gone, leaving the two women alone with Zulema.

Saray let out a shaking breath and pulled one of the chairs that were positioned around a table, close to the sideboards Zulema was laying on, to her to let herself down on it. Macarena did the same without bothering to ask.

"She is the strongest person I know", Saray said after a short silence. "She's gone through so much shit, it…. It just doesn't seem right."

"I know", Macarena said, feeling a lump build up in her throat. Her eyes fell on Zulema again. She knew excatly what Saray meant. Zulema didn't deserve this, none of it. She had done a lot of shit in her life, yes, but her wrongdoings didn't justify this punishment. Nothing would ever justify it, any of it.

Subconsciously, the blonde reached out to take hold of Zulema's hand. It was cold. She put her other hand on top of it and gently made circular motions trying to give the brunette some warmth. It was the least she could do.

"She told me about this plan, you know. A rough version of it, obviously, no details, but I knew enough and I told her that it wasn't a good idea, but she… Of course she didn't want to hear it", Saray said with a half-hearted snort. "She said that this was going to be your last big coup and that she would pull this through, no matter what."

Macarena nodded, her hands still wrapped around Zulema's. "Yeah, I… I wanted to end our… partnership. I wanted to live a normal life, you know? Without all the robberies and stuff." Speaking it out loud, Macarena felt almost like a hypocrite. Like Zulema had said; what would a normal life even have in store for them? Was it even possible for them to live a normal life anymore? Deep down, Macarena knew the answers to it, knew that Zulema had been right, had always been right about this issue but it hurt too much to admit it. "But, well, she talked me into this and I agreed. Not because of the money, just because… I don't even know why, really. It was a fucking stupid idea, I know that but I… just couldn't say no", Macarena said. She lifted her shoulders and her eyes fell on Zulema again. "To her", she added quietly, defeated. Because that was what Zulema did to her; she made her feel defeated, made her weak and consenting.

Saray looked at her from the side. "She wouldn't have done this without you", she stated.

Macarena looked up to her, raising her brows. "So you're blaming me?" Like she didn't already blame herself enough.

"No", said Saray. "Because I know that she wouldn't. You know what she would do? She would thank you. For doing this last heist with her."

"I don't think that the words 'Thank you' would really go over her lips", Macarena said dryly.

A small smirk pulled on Saray's lips. "Probably not. But she would be thankful, anyway. You know that; you know _her."_

Macarena nodded slowly. Yes, she really did know Zulema. "I think, first of all, she'd throw a knife at me for not leaving her in that bloody desert."

A short laugh escaped Saray and Macarena felt herself chuckling as well. "Right", said Saray. "But she would never let it come even close to you."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that", Macarena said.

"But I am", Saray said with a nod. Her gaze was fixed at the two women's interwined hands. "Because I know her as well."


	4. Chapter 4

Macarena hadn't realized that she had fallen asleep until someone gently squeezed her shoulder, making her wake up with a start. Her head jerked up and she needed a moment to orientate herself, but as soon as her eyes fell on the still body of Zulema next to her, it all came back to her. She was still sitting on the chair next to the sideboard and her back was aching from falling asleep in an position as uncomfortable as this. She rolled her shoulders back and ran her hands through her disarranged hair, looking up to Saray who had woken her.

"Morning", said the _gitana._ "You looked like you were falling off that chair so I thought it'd be better to wake you."

"Yes", mumbled Macarena. "Thanks." Her gaze fell on Zulema once again. "Is everything fine with her?"

Saray took some glasses out of a drawer and poured juice into them. "As fine as she can be, I guess." Offering one of the glasses Macarena, she looked way more relaxed than the night before. "But she lives."

Macarena took a sip from the juice. Yes. She lived. Observing Zulema, it almost seemed to Macarena as if even her face had already regained some of it's colour. But then again, maybe she was just wishing for that to be true. "When do you think will she wake up?"

"Hard to say", came the voice from Mala who had just stepped into the doorframe. She had her arms crossed in ront of her chest and wore an unreadable expression. "We got her high on pain-meds, so it may take some more time for her to wake up, depending on how resistant her body is. But maybe she'll need less time and it won't take that long. We'll see."

Macarena nodded, her eyes on the black haired woman in the door-frame. Before talking, the blonde cleared her voice. "She needs her pills", stated Macarena, her voice shallow. "She takes them each morning."

Mala let out a sigh, taking a step into the room and closing the door behind her. "Yeah, that's what I wanted to talk to you about." Coming closer to Macarena, Mala pulled the pill boxes Macarena had given her out of the pockets of her sweater.

"Those pills", she said while shortly showing them to Saray and Macarena. "Are no meds you would use to treat a tumor. Nothing even close to it. In fact, this ones", she shook one of the boxes, making the pills inside rattle. "Are medicaments that can, in combination with other meds, cause some heavy side effects. Like hallucinations." The look she gave Macarena was guarded. "I do not know why she's been taking these meds", said Mala, putting the boxes on the table in front of her. "But I can tell you for sure that no competent doctor would ever give a cancer patient those kind of pills."

Macarena felt her body going numb. This couldn't be true. She must still be sleeping, dreaming maybe. "But… what are you saying, then?", asked the blonde wearily. "That she… doesn't even have a tumor? That the doctor gave her those pills on purpose or…?"

"I don't know that for sure", Mala said cautiously. "But if she truly had cancer, in a stage as developed as you said, I don't think she even would have made it through our surgery. Or, precicely, her brain wouldn't have made it through it."

The world began to spin in front of Macarena's eyes and she was glad that she was still sitting in her chair, otherwise she'd have fallen over.

"But why would a doctor misdiagnose a tumor _and_ give her fucking wrong meds _on purpose_?", asked Saray and, by doing so, voiced the excact questions that were swirling around in Macarena's head.

Mala slowly shook her head. "I don't know", she said. "My speculation would be a personal grudge, maybe, but normally, that shouldn't even be possible. No doctor would want to lose his job and reputation due to manipulating a patient's file."

"Except, maybe it wasn't a doctor", mumbled Macarena. She lifted her head, a suspicion slwoly taking form in her mind. "Maybe someone else working in that hospital switched the scans and the medicaments without the doctor noticing, and he just told Zulema what those false scans showed and handed her the pills that someone else mixed up. On purpose, because of a persoal grudge."

Mala cocked her head to one side. "Possible", she said. "And you really have no idea which hospital she went to?"

Macarena pushed herself off her chair, suddenly feeling the need to move. "No", she said. "We were always on the move and she didn't tell me back then, I only found out later." She pressed her fingers to her temples, trying to remember something, anything really, a change in Zulema's moods, a time when she left the van or took the car, but it was impossible to pin-point any moment; Zulema's moods shifted constantly from 'Together until the end of the world' to 'Leave me the fuck alone or I'll shoot you', while the latter was more common, and she had often left the van or driven around in their car just for the sake of it. But there had to be some indication, some day when…-

A memory pushed forth in Macarena's mind, making all the others fade away. The trampoline. Zulema's strange, really strange mood on that particular day and her ominous talk about life. Macarena knew, she just _knew_ that that had been the day.

"We were close to Granada", said the blonde, turning around to face the other two women. "Something just… came to my mind, it must have been there."

Mala just nodded, took her phone out of the pocket of her jeans and began typing something on it. "Alright", she said after a short time. "The only hospital with a station for neurology close to Granada is this one." Macarena stepped closer to the black haired to look onto the screen as well. Mala had opened the website of a hospital and was scrolling through it, presumably looking for a list of the staffers. "Here", she said upon finding it. She offered her phone to Macarena. "Look at the names, maybe someone familiar comes up."

Macarena took the phone and began scrolling down the list. Her heart thumped in her throat but she didn't even know whether she hoped or feared that Mala was right with her assumption. Because she didn't know if she could handle it, should someone she really did know pop up on this list. She was already imagining the worst when a name that she had nearly overlooked suddenly rang a bell. She stopped scrolling, looking at the screen with held breath. She didn't know the person, she doubted that Zulema did either, but that wasn't the point. Because he sure as hell knew Zulema.

"What?", asked Saray, stepping closer to Macarena and attempting to look over her shoulder. "Who is it? I swear, I will kill this bastard!"

Macarena didn't say anything. Instead, she just pressed her thumb down at the name of which she knew it had to be him, marking it in the process.

It read Fernando Hierro. Nurse.

Saray let out a small gasp, ripping the phone out of Macarena's hands. "What the fuck", whispered the _gitana._ Beside the name was a small photo on which Saray zoomed in. After taking a close look at it, she looked back to Macarena.

"His brother", she said. "Not a single doubt."

Macarena nodded. She had suspected as much. Due to her coma, she hadn't really gotten to know Hierro, the _other_ one, Antonio Hierro, the prison guard, but she had heard the stories about him and Zulema. Their relationship had been quite complicated, as to what she had heard of it, and had resulted in his death during the prison riot. Since Zulema had been the one that killed Hierro, it wasn't too unlikely that his brother would have hard feelings for Zulema.

"I'll kill him", said Saray, throwing the phone on the counter and smashing her hands down beside it. "I'll fucking kill that _hijo de puta."_

"You will not", said Mala while placing one hand on Saray's shoulder. "If he really did that, then he isn't worth going to prison for."

"Oh, he did do that", said Saray. "Zulema killed his brother and he wanted to get even, that's how simple it is. He wanted to kill her, slowly and painfully. And he almost fucking got what he wanted", she said with a kick to the table that screeched over the floor.

Macarena took a deep breath, trying to orden her thought. "Mala is right", she said. "We shouldn't be too concerned with him right now." At Saray's disbelieving look, she added; "I want to see him pay as well, Saray, believe me. And I would very much see him pay with every fibre of his body, but he is far away right now and Zulema is here. Still alive. We should focus on getting her back on track before we deal with him."

Saray clenched her jaw but nodded, seeing reason in Macarena's words.

Macarena let out a shaking breath. "Good." Her eyes fell on Zulema again and her heart got heavy. It had all been in vain, then; there would have been no need for the brunette to stay behind and let herself get shot, because she wouldn't have had to die.

"She'll make it now, won't she?", asked Macarena with a thin voice. She had to be sure of this.

"I'm positive about that, yes", said Mala with a small sigh. "But it will take long before she'll be completely back to her own self. Getting shot multiple times isn't just a small inconvenience."

Macarena interrupted her with a nod. She didn't want, didn't need to hear more. Zulema would live. That was all that mattered to her right now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright guys, now we can all take a deep breath, right ;)   
> Maybe soon we can expect a (bitter) sweet reunion between the two of them...?


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my.... I am SO sorry for this long wait; I really had zero time to write anything and therefore couldn't update this one sooner.   
> BUT here it is, (I hope ya'll are still here as well ;)) so enjoy reading!

Numbness.

That was all Zulema could feel. Her head, her body, her mind; everything felt numb. Her limbs were light and felt as if they were floating, wrapped in a warm, comforting blanket.

If this was death, then she was happy that she had died. Because, God, now there really was _no more pain;_ rather the opposite of pain, actually. She felt scarcely anything for a change. Which was nice. So very nice. And she didn't want this to end, not ever.

"Zulema."

No. That was no voice that she was hearing. No one could be calling her name. There was no way.

"Zulema, can you hear me?"

No, she could not. She didn't want to.

"Zule!"

God damn it.

Her eyes snapped open. Blinding lights made her squeeze them shut again and blink a few times. More people called out her name but her mind wasn't able to process all of what was being said. Something in her mouth hindered her to breathe but before she could lift a hand to remove it, someone else did so.

She gasped for air.

And just like that, she knew that her plan had failed – she was alive. 

* * *

"Zulema", Macarena breathed as soon as she noticed the other woman's hand twitch in hers. The blonde jumped up from her chair, making the wood screech on the floor which alerted Mala and Saray who were sitting at the table, talking quietly with each other.

"What's happening?", asked Saray, standing up as well. Mala was faster than her, however; the black haired woman crossed the room with a few large steps and pressed some buttons on some of the monitors that were beeping all out of the sudden. She threw Zulema a quick glance.

"She's waking up", said Mala. She quickly made her way around the sideboard, coming to a halt next to Macarena and fishing an injection out of the pocket of her jacket. "I need you to take a step back, please", she said to Macarena.

The blonde took a faltering breath but did what Mala asked and let go of Zulema's hand to take a step back from her. The blonde's heart was racing. She hadn't expected Zulema to wake up that soon; it was just early in the evening, barely 24 hours after the two had finished the surgery.

"Is everything…-", began Macarena, but Mala interrupted her with a shushing noise.

"Be quiet for a second", she said. She carefully injected Zulema some of the liquid from the syringe, then she took Zulema's wrist into her hand, looking for a pulse. "Zulema", she said.

There was no immediate reaction from the brunette. Then, one of the monitors made a beeping noise again.

"Zulema, can you hear me?"

The brunette's eyes twitched beneath her lids.

"Zule", said Saray, her voice loud and demanding.

Zulema's eyes snapped open; and Macarena felt her knees getting weak. She had to grab Saray's arm to support her weight because, God, she felt dizzy. She passively saw Mala take the respirator from Zulema's mouth, heard the brunette gasp and lowly whimper, saw her eyes flutter and her body tense.

She was awake.

And as soon as her eyes fell on the unknown woman in front of her, Macarena saw how something inside of Zulema snapped; her eyes widened, she gasped for air, coughing, and her body squirmed. She was panicking.

"It's alright, Zulema, just breathe with me, alright?", Mala said, gently placing her hands on Zulema's arms to keep her still but the contact that was meant to be soothing achieved rather the opposite; Zulema flinched at the touch and tried to back away from it but crumbled down with a hiss at the slightest movement.

"Step back from her", said Macarena while taking a step forward and pushing herself in front of Mala, bringing one of her hands to Zulema's head and burying it in her hair. Touching her like that was risky, she knew that, touching her at all was risky because you would always find yourself balancing on a thin line that could end at any given moment and let you fall right into Zulema's anger, but she didn't know what else to do in this situation to calm the brunette.

"Calm down, Zulema, it's me", she said, trying to get the brunette to focus on her, and her only. But Zulema's eyes continued to flicker all across the room, her body still tensed up and her breathing irregular. "Hey, everything is fine, you're safe. Now look at me, look at me."

Finally, Zulema's eyes settled on Macarena. It seemed to take the brunette one second to comprehend the situation; her breathing stopped for a second and her mouth slightly opened, then her body finally relaxed; her breathing became even and the panic in her eyes subsided. Macarena let out a shaky breath as well. "That's it", she said, her fingers circling in Zulema's hair. "Everything's all right."

Behind her, Macarena heard someone step closer to her. She shortly glanced behind her to see Mala standing behind her. Turning to Zulema again, she took a step to the side so the brunette could see the black haired woman.

"That's Mala", Macarena said. "She has treated your wounds, together with Saray. We're at their house, where you wanted the pilot to bring us. Do you remember?"

Zulema looked from Mala back to Macarena and nodded. A small smile pulled on Macarena's lips. "Good", she said. "Mala will take a look at you now, alright?"

The brunette nodded again, more curtly this time, however. Macarena carefully removed her hand from Zulema's hair and took a step back from her to let Mala proceed. The black haired woman stepped forward again, choosing not to touch Zulema this time, though.

"Alright", she said with a small smile. "I'm sorry if I have frightened you before. As Macarena said, we have stiched you up again. Now, how are you feeling?", she asked, pulling a pen out of her pocket and grabbing a clipboard from beside her.

Zulema swallowed and closed her eyes. "Like shit", she murmured. Her voice was rough and quavering at suppressed pain but hearing the brunette talk set off a wave of relieve in Macarena nevertheless.

"Okay", said Mala. "How's the pain?"

Letting out a sigh, Zulema opened her eyes again, attempting to lift her hand in order to push a stand of hair out of her face. A mere second later, however, she grimaced and let her arm fall limply to her side again, trembling for a second. She glanced at her shoulder that must have pained her, just to avert her gaze as soon as she saw the thick bandages covering it.

"It's fine", said the brunette curtly.

Behind her, Macarena heard Saray let out a snort. "You've been better at lying, _hermana",_ said the _gitana,_ taking a few steps forward and coming to a halt next to Zulema _._

"Fuck", whispered the brunette, closing her eyes. But Macarena had seen how glassy they had become the moment she had spotted Saray. "I didn't think I'd ever see you again", said Zulema.

"Yeah", said Saray. "Me neither. Especially not after that little stunt you pulled off", she said with a weak attempt at irony.

Zulema nodded slowly, opening her eyes again and letting them flicker towards Macarena before directing them at Saray again. "Right", she said. "Sorry for the inconveniences."

"Are you kidding me?", Saray said incredulously. "What inconviniences – you nearly bleeding to death in front of our eyes? You're _sorry_ for that?"

Zulema took a deep breath, averting her eyes from the _gitana._ They crossed Macarena's gaze once more. The blame in them was obvious and didn't surprise the blonde, but it hurt nevertheless. She had had the hope, the tiny hope, that Zulema would be thankful, like Saray had said the night before. But right now, the brunette seemed to be anything _but_ thankful; her gaze alone made it clear to Macarena that Zulema did not thank but blame her for being alive. And that hurt; not because she wanted to be praised by Zulema or something like that, not at all, but because it hurt her to see the brunette without any will to live left in her.

The thought of Zulema being so desperate, so miserable due to her condition cut like a knife through Macarena's skull and made her so angry that the blonde felt the sudden wish to break something. Her anger wasn't directed at the brunette, however, obviously; it was directed at the fucking person that had tricked Zulema into thinking that she was sick, that she was dying and that drove her into madness, making her spiral down a dark path that had ended with her getting willingly shot and wanting to die in the process of it.

It was sickening.

And she had to stop this fallacy right now.

"Zulema", she said, not really sure how to address this matter, but sure that it had to be addressed at this moment. "We… We found out that you… You don't have cancer. Most likely." The words came out plumbly, but what did it matter.

Mala made an unapproving noise, she probably would have wanted to tell Zulema at another time, but Macarena didn't care. All she cared for was for Zulema to know, to finally know that she was not sick, nor dying. _Thankfully._

Zulema's reaction was not easy to decipher. For a moment, the brunette just stared at Macarena, like an animal observing its prey before attacking.

"What are you saying?", she asked, her voice steely. 

Macarena took a breath. "You don't have cancer. Mala analysed the pills you were taking and they were nothing even close to cancer medication. Then we looked at this list of employees at the hospital you had your scans taken and…"

" _Callate_ ", snapped Zulema. Macarena held her breath. The brunette's eyes flickered from Macarena to Saray, then shortly to Mala. "What _puta mierda_ are you talking about?", she hissed.

"It's true", Mala said reluctantly. "We are not a hundred percent sure yet, but we do assume that someone has given you medication to intensify headaches and hallucinations and has manipulated your scans."

"And who should do that?", Zulema snapped. She was highly irritated, Macarena could tell, but after Mala's statement she seemed to believe it a tiny bit more.

"Your argentinian lover's brother", Saray said with a nod.

Zulema's eyes widened. " _Que?"_

"He works at that same hospital", Macarena said. "We assume that it was him."

Zulema just stared at them. "I swear to God, if you're lying to me…-"

The blonde sadly shook her head. It was nothing but sad that Zulema always believed every person around her to betray her out of malice. Macarena felt her heart sting at that thought; 'Y _ou have betrayed her yorself',_ a voice in her voice whispered, ' _You have sold her to the police. You made her like this.'_

Yes, she had sold Zulema knowingly to the police; but only because there had been no other choice; because not selling her would have meant selling her own baby, that innocent child that was growing within her and that had nothing to do with any of this. There had been no other option, even though she wished there had.

"We are not", Macarena said. "It's the truth."

Zulema clenched her jaw, trying to lead one hand to her face but failing once more at it, surrendering to the pain. Not being able to cover her face, the brunette tilted her head to the side in an attempt to hide her expression from the others, but it was of no use. Macarena could still see the tears spilling out of Zulema's eyes and running down her cheeks, could still see her chest heave at a sob; and she was sure that the others could, too.

Macarena knew that this was no moment to approach Zulema, not at all and back in prison, she wouldn't even have dared to think about that. But those times were long over; too many boundaries, too many lines have been crossed already, why not cross this one as well.

So she took a step towards Zulema. And another one. And reached out to touch her, placing a hand on her arm. The brunette flinched at the contact and abruptly turned towards Macarena, whimpering at the movement and looking up to her with eyes darkened by anger but weakened by tears.

Macarena let her hand slide down Zulema's arm, stroking her palm. "It's alright", she murmured. She lets her hand linger on top of Zulema's and waits for the brunette to react to that contact; one way or another, she would accept it. After a few seconds in which their gaze never broke, Zulema's fingers twitched. And wrapped themselves around Macarena's fingers. The blonde's heart took a leap and she let out a breath, nodding towards Zulema and squeezing her hand.

The brunette let her eyes fall shut again. Macarena just stood beside her, holding her hand and trying to give her the feeling that now it was her, Zulema, who indeed wasn't alone anymore _._


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long wait (again) - sorry!  
> But here we go, next chapter ;)

Zulema was no self-pitying person, had never been and would never be that. In fact, she despised pity, no matter if she was on the receiving or on the giving end. The latter barely happened, anyway, but, yeah. It just wasn't her thing. Espescially not regarding herself. Because from her point of view, there was nothing more weak than pitying yourself. Nothing.

So even right now, lying on a bed to which someone else had carried her, being unable to move any part of her body without feeling an excruciating pain and not even being able to breathe properly without feeling like her lungs would fail her, _she did not pity herself_. She did not. The only emotion she felt towards her crippled self was contempt. _Utter_ contempt, in its strongest form.

Because she just couldn't believe it. Not Macarena's words; by now, a few hours after having waken up and being told the story about the cancer-shit several times by Saray, Mala and Macarena, she did believe that they were, or at least could be right. What she couldn't believe was how stupid she had been. How naive had she been to not once question this story about the tumor she had been supposed to have. How fucking dumb to believe that she would have to die and how God damn foolish to let herself get taken down by those Narcos-pseuds. It was pathetic, really. The whole thing was pathetic, _she_ was pathetic.

Pathetic, dumb, stupid… the list went on much, much longer.

So, her contempt wasn't too unfounded.

A sudden knock at the door yanked Zulema out of her thoughts. Her head snapped towards the clock on the wall of the guest room Mala and Saray had brought her to after having taken care of her after she had woken up earlier. It was three-thirty in the morning. She knew only one person that would have the guts to knock at her fucking door at three in the morning.

" _Rubia",_ she grumbled.

The door was slowly pushed open. And the blonde stuck her head through it. She cautiously eyed Zulema, wearing a small smile. "Hey", she said. Then, after a short pause; "Did I wake you up?"

Zulema sighed. She hadn't been able to sleep at all, partly due to the omnipresent pain but also because of relentless thoughts that just wouldn't leave her alone. She shook her head no.

Macarena bit her lower lip. "Mind if I come in?", she asked.

Zulema closed her eyes. "I don't think I can do much to stop you, can I?"

She heard the blonde take a step in the room and push the door close behind her. "You could just say so. I'd understand if you needed some rest."

"I can rest once I'm dead", the brunette said dryly. Opening her eyes, she saw Macarena staring at her with an almost shocked expression, standing a few feet away from her bed as if frozen in movement

"That was a joke, _rubia,_ relax", Zulema murmured. "God, loosen up."

"Loosen up?", the blonde repeated. "How am I supposed to 'loosen up' when you're joking about dying after you just nearly bled to death in front of my eyes?"

"I'm alive now, ain't I?"

A snort. "Yeah."

"So why shouldn't I joke about it? It was fucking stupid, wasn't it?"

Macarena's hands twitched and she crossed them in front of her chest. "Yes, it was", she said.

Zulema nodded. She tried to adjust her position on the bed by pushing her upper body a bit more upright but failed the second she demanded her muscles to flex which caused a pain pulling at every fibre of her body, so she just let herself sink back into her pillow. "Good that we've got that clear", she said between gritted teeth, breathing through drumming waves of pain. "So, how are you?"

Macarena raised her brows, seemingly incredulous. "How am _I?",_ she asked, closing the distance between herself and the bed and letting herself down on the edge of the mattress. "Shouldn't I be the one asking you that question?"

Zulema pulled her face into a grimace. "I guess the answer wouldn't please either of us", she said.

"But I want to know."

Of course. How could Zulema have forgotten how nerve-wracking that woman could be. The brunette let out a sigh but, fuck, even that hurt.

"My lungs feel like bursting with every breath that I take, my body feels like it got mistaken for a punching bag and my head spins from the pain meds, that don't really help, by the way. So, how am I? Like literal shit."

Macarena adjusted her posiotion on the mattress and turned to face Zulema directly. Her face was hard to read. "I'm sorry", she said.

Zulema instictively let out a snort but cursed herself for it when her body ached. "For what?", she murmured. "You didn't shoot me."

The blonde's gaze stayed on her as if fixed to her face. "No", she said, taking a small breath. "But I left you. And I'm sorry for that."

"Don't be", Zulema said. "I told you to go. I _wanted_ you to go."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean that it was right of me to go. Which it was not."

"God, Macarena", the brunette said, exasperated by the blonde's need to always clarify every little issue. "Stop it. It's fine. I'm fine. And in the end, you did come back, didn't you?"

"Yes", Macarena said, averting her eyes from Zulema. "But only after I saved my own ass like a coward."

There was a beat of silence. Then, Zulema asked the question that had been burning on her tounge for the past few hours. "Then why did you, though?", she asked. "Come back?"

This time, the silence stretched longer than a beat. Macarena tilted her head, closing her eyes and opening them again. They found Zulema's instantly. Old habit.

"Because I just… couldn't leave you there, _coño._ I don't know if you can understand things like that but… I mean, we have been through so much together. It just couldn't end like this. And I'm more than glad that it didn't."

For a moment, Zulema just looked at the blonde. Then, she slowly nodded. "Yeah", she said. A little bit more quiet, she added; "Me too."

Macarena's eyes lit up a bit and she nodded as well. "Good", she said. Then, she pushed herself off the matress again, standing beside the bed. "Alright, I just, you know, wanted to ask how you're feeling and get this off my chest, so I guess I'll better let you rest now."

She made a move to turn around but before she could do so, Zulema reached out and grabbed hold of Macarena's hand. A sharp pain in her wounded shoulder made her wince but she forced the pain away by squeezing her eyes shut.

"Maca", she pressed out while holding unintentionally tightly onto the blonde's hand. Opening her eyes again, Zulema saw Macarena looking down at her with a surprised look on her face. And to be honest, the brunette was surprised about herself as well. But it seemed like she needed to get something off her chest as well, even if she hadn't realised that until now. " _Gracias",_ the brunette breathed. The word tasted strange on her lips; but not in a bad way. "I mean it."

The surprise on Macarena's face became even more evident after that. " _De nada"_ , she said, a small smile making its way to her lips. With a squeeze of the brunette's hand she added; "Now get some rest."

Zulema nodded and slowly detached her hand from Macarena's, leaning back into her pillow carefully. Closing her eyes to take a breath, she would almost have missed the blonde leaving the room if she hadn't paused at the door to throw a last glance towards Zulema.

" _Buenas noches",_ Macarena said.

Zulema nodded. _"Buenas noches."_

A small smile, then the blonde was out of the door.

A held back sigh escaped Zulema.

Yes, the brunette did know what Macarena had meant when saying that she just hadn't been able to leave her there, in the desert; maybe she could even understand it, even if she probably wouldn't have done the same for another person. But she could imagine what it would feel like to see her partner bleed out in the desert, dying. And it certainly wasn't a pleasant feeling, so, yeah, she could understand Macarena's motives, at least somehow.

It was almost funny, really; who would have thought a few years ago, when they had met in prison, that they would one day end up like this? She had asked herself that same question several times over the past few years, but now it particularily stood out. Who would have thought that one day, Zulema would stay behind, forcing Macarena to get into safety, resulting in herself getting shot and being saved by Macarena?

It was ironic. Like their whole relationship. But that didn't mean that it was bad – either of it.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, this is actually a new chapter!  
> Enjoy :)

_She was running. Dark strands of hair were flying around her head as her feet sped over the ground. It all felt so familiar that at first, she didn’t do anything but just go with the movement; running was something she had always done, her whole life had practically consisted of running, so at this point, it just felt like the natural thing to do._

_But something was different this time. She was staring straight ahead, but it was only now that she noticed that she couldn’t see anything in front of her. Everything was a blur, it was like she was running through thickly layered fog that made it impossible for her to see any sort of destination in front of her. In fact, she didn’t even know where she was running to. Or what she was even running from, for that matter._

_Turning her head while still running, she looked behind herself, only to see the same blankness that was in front of her as well. Why was she even running, then? It didn’t make any sense._

_She tried to slow down, to stop running, because there was absolutely no reason to do so, but she couldn’t. Her feet just wouldn’t stop moving. They carried her ahead as if they belonged to someone else. Looking down at them, Zulema let out a gasp; her body was all bloodied, gashes and bullett wounds having torn it open and making the blood leak through her clothes._

_But she couldn’t feel them._

_Now, she began to panic. She kept on running against her own will, looking down on the holes in her shirt through which blood was leaking with an ever fastening speed. She would bleed out. Running from noone to nowhere. And she just couldn’t stop it. Her own inabilty to control her own body would kill her._

_But was it really her body?_

_Or was it just her mind?_

"Zule! God damn it!"

A hand on her shoulder and it was over. Zulema gasped for air as her eyes snapped open. It took a moment for the brunette to realise where she was. Her eyes flew across the room that seemed unknown at first but familiar at the second glance, then Saray moved into her line of sight and it all came back to her; the shoot-out, the surgery, the guest room. Safety. No running.

It had been a dream. Just a dream.

She felt her head sink back into the pillow and her eyes flutter close again for a moment. That had been intense.

"You okay?", asked Saray, her hand still resting on Zulema's shoulder.

The brunette nodded. "Yeah", she mumbled, opening her eyes again. "Sure."

"Your heart was racing. The monitor went wild."

Great. Zulema clenched her jaw and tried to straighten herself a bit. "Must be a side effect of those meds you gave me", she said.

Saray gave her a short look, then she turned to press some buttons on the monitor standing beside Zulema's bed that she was still connected to with thin wires.

"Maybe", the _gitana_ said. "Anyway, good morning, first of all."

Zulema forced a quick smile onto her lips. "Right", she said. Only now she realised that the sun was shining brightly through her windows. "What time is it?"

"Nearly eleven", Saray said, wearing a small smile on her lips now as well. Pushing Zulema's blanket aside, she let herself down on the bed. "But it doesn't matter. It's good that you got some sleep."

Zulema just nodded. Considering that at three a.m. she had thought that she would not be able to close an eye that night, it seemed like her body did indeed need some rest. It was just her mind. Always just her mind.

"Are you in pain?", asked Saray.

"No", Zulema answered, but even to her the word sounded like a lie. "A little bit, maybe."

The _gitana_ let out a snort. "Yeah, of course. I bet that you would have said the same when Macarena brought you here – If you had been able to talk, then."

Now the smile on Zulema's lips was sincere. "You know me too well, _gitana."_

A small laugh came from Saray. "Yes, I do. Fortunately. Otherwise, I may even believe you." She reached over to the nightstand and took a package of pills out of a drawer.

"Those pills were right next to me the whole night and you didn't bother telling me?", Zulema asked. "God, I could have slept so much longer."

"I put them there for an emergency, not for you to sleep longer", Saray said while placing two pills on her palm and letting the package sink into her jacket. "And I will take them with me now. Wouldn't want you to accidentally overdose."

Zulema rolled her eyes. She took the pills from Saray's hand and swallowed them without water; she was used to that. "Don't be silly", she said. "You begin to sound like Maca."

Saray slightly adjusted her position on the bed. "Speaking of…", she said, her eyes staring right into Zulema's. "What's going on between the two of you? Like, I know that you have been robbing and shit together, everyone knows that. But, it seemed to me like… I mean, I don't know, but is there something else? Something… more?"

God. That conversation went into the wrong direction way too fast.

"Why would you think that?", Zulema asked, choosing to replace an answer with a counter question.

Saray raised a brow. "I don't know; maybe because she was absolutely beside herself when she brought you here and didn't want to leave your side for even one second? And what happened yesterday when you woke up… I mean, she literally managed to calm you down within seconds."

A suppressed sigh left Zulema's chest. It wouldn't bother her if Saray knew about what the relationship between her and Macarena really was like, it really wouldn't – if only she knew herself what it was like. But she just couldn't put a lable on it, neither could she explain it. So she opted for a slight lie. The easy way out, as always.

"We spent a lot of time together, Saray. We lived together, we planned and robbed together. That's it." She lightly shrugged.

Saray met her gaze with disbelief. "Zulema", she began. "She slept beside you holding your hand while you were unconscious. She cried her fucking eyes out for you. That's not a simple partnership, you can't tell me that."

Those facts hit Zulema unexpectedly and for a moment she was at a loss for words. She had always known that Macarena emotional, but holding her hand? Crying? For her, Zulema? That managed to surprise the brunette; because that was not how she would have thought their relationship would ever be like. Because it wasn't what _she_ would ever be like.

"I can't speak for her", Zulema mumbled.

"Right", Saray said. "So if I asked her the same questions now, she would tell me that she's madly in love with you while you won't even admit that there's as much as friendship between the two of you?"

"God, Saray, what do you expect me to say?", the brunette snapped. She was getting fed up with those questions and the pills weren't showing their effect yet, either. "She's pregnant, alright? And certainly not from me, so cut that 'madly in love' talk. We had sex. Once. Because we were high. Maybe her hormones are making her sentimental or something, I don't know, but I also don't care."

At that, Saray looked baffled. "You had sex", she stated. "Now, we're getting somewhere." 

"Did you not listen to me?", Zulema snarled. "She is pregnant. From some random man, I don't even know who it is."

"But you just said that you don't care about that", Saray said. "Or do you?"

Zulema took a clipped breath. "I... No, I don't. In fact, I couldn't care less."

"Then why are you so bitter about it?", Saray asked, a mix of surprise and irritation on her face. "When you don't care?"

Yeah. Why?

"Because…", Zulema started, trying to arrange her thoughts. "Because… I just… I don't want to talk about this right now. Just leave me alone." Easy way out, once again. 

Saray's brows rose even higher and Zulema felt a pang of guilt at the slight expression of hurt in the _gitana's_ eyes but it was too late to change that.

"Okay", said Saray while slowly standing up from the bed. Looking continously at Zulema, she said; "You would have died without her. You know that."

The breath Zulema took was more shaky than she would have liked it to be. She nodded curtly. "Yeah."

"I don't think that it were her hormones that made her save your life."

Zulema averted her eyes from Saray's face and instead stared straight ahead at the wall. Her head did a motion between a nod and something vague, but she knew that Saray was right about that. In fact, she was right about a lot more, but Zulema just couldn't deal with this topic any longer.

Saray sighed, then she made her way to the door. "Stay in bed, you'll get something to eat soon." Then she was through the door and closed it behind her.

Zulema's body sank down into the mattress as if it suddenly weighed twice as much as normally.

Was she really bitter about Macarena's pregnancy? It most certainly sounded like it. But why would she? Because she had lost her own child. Yes. That was it. Because Macarena would be a mother while she, Zulema, no longer was. It surely did not have anything to do with the fact that the blonde had slept with someone else. No. That couldn't be the reason. She _refused_ to believe that that came even close to the reason for her bitterness. That she was _jealous._ No, no, no. Zulema Zahir was not jealous. Of no one. Why should she; she didn't even feel something for Macarena. Or did she?

Zulema wanted to scream into a pillow to end those thoughts but her limbs felt so heavy that she couldn't even move. So she just lay there, staring at the ceiling and trying to think of anything but the blonde. Which turned out to be impossible; because her freaking mind was beyond her control.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NEW CHAPTER EVERYONE!  
> I thought I'd give you an early Christmas present since you all have been so unbelivably supportive in your comments, so here we go!  
> I hope this chapter makes up for the really long wait - let's just say it's a bit longer than usually and contains a lot more action than usually SO I hope you'll like it!  
> Happy reading and Merry Christmas to all of you!

The sun was already setting behind the vast fields stretching out all the way to the horizon when Macarena, Saray, Mala and Estrella were still sitting on the small patio in the backyard, half-filled glasses of Coke and empty plates in front of them. Mala and Saray had insisted on doing a Barbeque even though Macarena had repeatedly said that they didn't need to put that much effort into it if it was just for her but Saray had said that Macarena looked like she needed some proper food and, to be honest, she did. The food had tasted like the best she had ever eaten and she relished the moment of eating as much as she wanted without having to leave something for later or eat it all in a rush because they were on the run. For a split second, it even felt like she were living a normal life, far away from crimes and robberies and shoot-outs in the desert. But, of course, as soon as she had forgotten them, the memories came rushing right back at her and she scolded herself for even allowing herself to forget what had happened. Automatically her eyes had trailed towards the house in which she knew _her_ to be.

Zulema.

It always came back to her, everything. Macarena's thoughts, feelings, her whole being seemed to be unable to be anything without the brunette by now. Maybe because they had lived in each other's company for so long that they had grown so close to each other that life without the other one seemed somewhat empty. Or maybe because Macarena's life just didn't have any other content except Zulema. Well, that was until now. Macarena's hand sowly travelled over her belly. Soon she would have a baby. A new life she would have to take care of and be able to shape – even though she still did not know how to feel about that.

"Maca?" A sweet voice pulled her out of her thoughts. Looking to her right, Macarena saw Estrella looking up to her from her chair.

"Yes, _cariño_?", she answered, putting on a smile that came almost naturally to her as soon as she set her eyes on the girl. She was just such a sweetheart.

"Do you want to…-"

But Macarena never found out just what Estrella had wanted to ask her. The very second that Estrella had started to speak up, a shot disrupted the silence around them, causing the three women to immediately dive under the table, Mala and Macarena pushing Estrella, who let out a shriek, down as well.

"What the…-", Saray breathed before another shot rang through the air.

_What the actual fuck_ was what Macarena was thinking. Why, _why_ for God's sake was it not possible for her to have even one, just _one_ peaceful day?

"Do you have any neighbours who are hunters?", Macarena asked while letting her hand slide into her shoe to pull out a sharpened knife. A really weak weapon compared to a gun but better than nothing.

"Neither do we have neighbours, nor could you hunt anything in this area", Saray said. She sank down onto her elbows to peer onto the field before coming back up with a start. "Except people, I guess", she said, casting Macarena a dark look. "Looks like one of your Mexican friends."

_Oh, dear God, no_. Macarena closed her eyes for a second, trying to center her thoughts. "Bring Estrella inside", she said, nodding towards Mala. Looking up to Saray, she said, "We'll take care of him."

Saray nodded, her eyes glooming in the fading sunlight. "That, we will", she said. Without another word, she pushed herself up from the ground and stood up next to the table. Macarena followed her movements swiftly while keeping the knife hidden behind her back.

"Stay right where you are!", Saray shouted at the figure of a man that was leisurely edging closer to the house. Behind her, Macarena heard Mala ushering Estrella into the house. Good. Less good was the fact that the man was still coming closer and did not seem to be intimidated at all by Saray. Why would he, though – he didn't know her.

"Hey!", Saray called out again.

"You shut up before I make you!", the man shouted back before taking a jump over the small hedge delimiting the backyard. In his right hand Macarena saw the glistening of a gun. Small caliber, made for close combat. Alright, so the shots before had just been warning shots. Why warn them, though, wasting cardridges when he wanted to…? Kill them? Didn't seem to make sense.

"Sorry to interrupt your nice evening", the man said with a sneer, finally coming to a halt in front of them. He had dark hair and even darker eyes and Macarena was more than sure that she had seen him before. One of the dozen men in Ramala's service who had certainly enjoyed their race in the desert. Judging by the look he gave her, he remembered that as well. "Just didn't want the kid around, you know", he said. "Might get dirty out here."

"Maybe for _you"_ Saray snarled and as quick as a lightning strucking a tree, she threw herself onto the man, not giving a shit about the fact that he was holding a gun. She managed to knock him off his feet and gave him a hard headbutt while pinning him to the ground. He let out a muffled groan and for a second seemed like he would even blackout, but when Saray reached for his gun his body snapped back into action and he threw the _gitana_ off himself and jumped back up. But just when he pointed his gun at the groaning woman on the ground, Macarena jumped at him from behind and put her knife at his throat.

"Stop right there", she breathed into the man's ear. He did stop in his tracks but his body did surely not relax.

"That's some pretty thick neck you're holding your kitchen knife against", the man snarled. And he was right with that. His neck was extraordinarily muscular which would not make it easy to just slash his throat, considering the thin blade of her knife.

"Trust me, I know just where to make the cut", Macarena said.

"I don't think you do", the man said and with an unexpected speed he grabbed hold of her wrist and turned out of her grasp, forcing her into his grip instead and immediately pointing his gun at her temple. Saray stood before them, panting and with deadly eyes but unable to do anything than stare daggers at the man.

"Let her go you _bastard_ ", the _gitana_ spit out.

"Now we're getting somewhere", the man muttered. "Blondie here doesn't need to get hurt. Neither do you, your other friend or your sweet child who I know is inside that pretty little house that no one wishes to see all bloody. I just need _her."_

A shiver that made her tremble ran down Macarena's spine. Of course.

"Who the hell are you talking about?" Saray asked.

"Oh, now don't play fucking stupid with me", the man said while cocking his head. "I know that she lives, that little pilot of yours talked after a little… chat with me."

Macarena closed her eyes. By now she could understand why Zulema only trusted herself and herself alone.

"Now", the man said, adjusting his grip on her and unlocking his gun with a twitch of his finger. "Give me _la mora_ or I will kill you one after the other. Starting with you and that little baby you're carrying around."

Macarena's throat grew tight. Her knife lay useless in her right hand that was tied by the steelen grip of the man. Saray carried no weapon at all and Mala would not leave Estrella alone inside. Which was good, of course. Because at least the kid would be safe, then. But they would not be safe. Zulema would not be safe. And that because a single man had managed to find them after just a handful of days spent in deceptive freedon. Macarena should have suspected something like that, though, because the whole coup had been doomed the moment something had gone wrong at first. The wedding, to be precise, where they all had just fucked up. And this was the price, now, for their stupidity.

"I knew that there'd be a bounty on my head – but I didn't know that it would be that high."

At the sound of that all too familiar voice Macarena's heart dropped to her stomach. _This could not be happening._ But it was. The man swirled around to face the door leading from the patio into the house and there she stood, leaning against the doorframe and clutching at her stomach with one hand and holding a gun with the other – Zulema Zahir.

Saray's face expressed the same horror that Macarena was feeling.

"It's high enough", the man said to Zulema. The gun varied against Macarena's temple and she knew that the man was torn between pointing it at her or at Zulema and the blonde prayed to God that he would not do the latter because she saw by the way Zulema's weight was being heavily supported by the doorframe that it would only take one shot for her to crumble right to the ground.

"Yeah?", the brunette asked. "Then let's see if you've earned it."

Her arm holding the gun dropped and for a moment Macarena feared it would be due to Zulema's obvious state of pain fatigue and the man holding her seemed to think the same because he let go of Macarena and leveled his gun at the brunette instead, wanting to make use of her sudden weakness, but before he could even straighten his arm a shot rang through the air and the man fell forward with a cry of pain, letting go of his gun and clutching at his right knee instead.

" _Puta mierda",_ he seethed between clenched teeth but before Macarena could grab the gun from the ground, he had it in his hand again, his finger on the trigger and the barrel pointed at Zulema's direction in an instant.

Macarena cried out the brunette's name while Saray threw herself onto the man still lying on the ground but his shot was already released. A bang cut through the air and all their heads turned towards Zulema – whose body hit the ground with a thud.

The air was sucked out of Macarena's lungs and she thought that she would suffocate, here and now. If that shot had reached just any region of Zulema's upper body, then…-

"God fucking _damn it!",_ the brunette swore and slowly began pushing herself off the ground. Her face was contorted into a grimace racked with pain and on her shirt Macarena could see small blood-stains where her bandages were but no new wounds, at least not in the most critical region, indicating that he had not hit her fatally. Some air came back to Macarena's lungs and she took a short breath.

This woman truly got up again and again like the phoenix from the ashes.

"You need to work on that aim", Zulema pressed out, nodding towards a hole in the doorframe where the bullet must have pierced through. "Watch and learn, _hijo de puta._ "

Her shot was fatal.

The man collapsed like a puppet whose strings have been cut through. He was dead before his head hit the ground. Saray who was still sitting on top of him looked from him to Zulema and back to him, then she shook her head, a smile creeping onto her face.

" _Elfo del puto infierno",_ the _gitana_ said while running a hand over her face, letting out a laugh.

Macarena swallowed, a weak smile appearing on her lips as well – but disappearing just as fast when she saw Zulema falter.

"Zulema", she exclaimed and took fast steps towards the door. "Hey, hey." Coming to a halt next to the brunette, Macarena did not even think twice about what to do. She took Zulema's right arm and carefully placed it over her own shoulder while wrapping her left arm around the brunette's waist and supporting her weight. Zulema let out a suppressed groan and closed her eyes.

"God, _rubia,_ cut the lifesaver scene, I'm fine."

Macarena let out snort at that. "Yeah, sure. You always are aren't you?"

Zulema nodded, her eyes still squeezed shut. "Mhm." The next moment, however, the brunette did transfer a bit more of her weight onto Macarena and her eyes slowly opened. They were a bit glassy but mostly, they were honest – and thankful.

"Okay, let's get you back inside", Macarena said and slowly started to move. Zulema followed her movements and only let out a small hiss from time to time. Macarena could feel the brunette's limbs shaking but then again, she was still trembling on her own with the adrenaline slowly declining and reality setting in.

"We will have to move", Zulema said.

"What? We are moving."

"No, _tonta –_ we will have to move away from this place. All of us. If he found us, than others may find us as well."

Macarena let out a sigh. Of course. "Yes, sure, you're right. We'll… I'll send Mala to you to change you're bandages, then I'll go help Saray outside and then we'll talk about that, alright?"

Zulema nodded. "Alright."

Agreement without contradiction. Nice but unusual which concerned Macarena just a little bit but then again, the woman had just killed a man after nearly being killed herself just days before so the blonde would just accept it.

"Okay, here we are", she said when they arrived at Zulema's room. She helped the brunette onto the bed, propped up her pillow and helped her get halfway comfortable. "Okay", she said again. "Mala will be here right away."

Zulema just nodded, seemingly concentrated on her breathing.

"Alright", Macarena said with a small smile. Then she left the room.

She suspected Mala and Estrella in the kitchen so that was where she went next, and she was right. They were both sitting on a chair, Estrella in Mala's lap. When they saw Macarena, their eyes lit up.

"Maca", Estrella said and Mala let out a shaky breath.

"Oh God, Maca, she just took the gun from the counter and went outside, I couldn't do anything…-"

"It's alright, she's… alright. You may have to check on her bandages, though and maybe do some more stitching, I think her wounds ripped open again."

Mala nodded and gently lifted Estrella off her lap. "But… everyone's fine, right?"

Macarena nodded as well. "Yes. Of course. We'll… just have to dig a hole in your backyard."

Mala's eyes widened but she said nothing else and just rubbed Estrella's head. "Okay", she said. " _Cariño_ , go to your room for a minute, alright? You can leave your door open, I'll be right next door with Zulema."

Estrella nodded and took off to her room. Mala grabbed her first aid kit and went to Zulema's room and Macarena went back outside to help Saray with the digging.

A peaceful Barbeque would have been nice as well.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter ALREADY!  
> I'm in such a creative phase right now and I really enjoy it.  
> I hope you'll enjoy this chapter as well - but I actually am quite sure you will enjoy what's happening in it ;)  
> Tell me in the comments whether you did :)

"We'll move right now", Zulema said with a stern voice.

They were all gathered around her bed, Macarena sitting on the edge of the mattress while Saray and Mala had gotten themselves two chairs from the kitchen, discussing what to do now. In Zulema's opinion, however, a discussion wasn't even necessary; it was more than clear what they had to do now. Get away from this place as fast as possible and never return to it. All of them. But the others seemed to somehow have lost their common sense.

"Who says that others will come?", Mala asked, her brows furrowed. "Do you really think that the man would have come alone if he had told others about where he suspected you?"

Zulema tried her best not to lose her shit. "Do you really think that we can be sure that he did _not_ tell others?", she snapped.

"Alright, let's say others come here – we could fight them. Would be more effective than running from them", Mala said.

"I suppose you have never fought bounty hunters before?", Zulema asked dryly.

"No, I have not. But you have", Mala said, pointing at the three of them. "And I can handle a gun as well, so why not take this chance and put them down for good?"

Zulema let her head fall back against the headboard of her bed. "I can't believe we're even discussing this", she said with an incredulous smile. "Saray, talk some sense into your wife."

"I mean", Saray said carefully. "She's not that wrong."

"She is, for God's sake! Maca…", Zulema said, looking at the blonde an hoping for once that they would be of the same opinion.

"I agree with Zulema", Macarena said with a sigh. Thank God. "We can't take them on if they do come here. They are too many and too strong."

"Right", Zulema said. "Thank you."

"But… this is our home, you know?", Saray said with a light shrug. "Estrella's home. It's always been our safe space."

"Yeah, well, it's not anymore", Zulema said curtly. Slowly, she was starting to grow out of patience. "And I thought you out of all people would understand that, Saray. You know what it's like to be a criminal on the run and you know damn well that, espescially since there is a child involved, it is better to play on the safe side than on the brink of death. Because if Ramala's men come here, there will be many of them and I won't be able to shoot all of them from the doorframe, so they are going to kill us one by one. Your daughter included."

Saray took a visible breath, turning her gaze away from Zulema. Mala stared daggers at the brunette.

"Who do you even think you are", she snarled. "You come here after what – 10 years of not calling Saray, your _sister,_ as you say, even once and expect us to save your life. Then some lunatic comes to _our_ house, wanting to kill or kidnap or I-don't-even-care-what _you,_ scaring our daughter to the bones in the process and now you think you have the audacity to tell us what to do with our literal lives that we have made an effort to build up for the past few years?"

"Wow, okay", Macarena said, raising her hands defensively. "That is not fair. Zulema wasn't the one who…"

"Just stop defending her all the time, Macarena. I don't know what's going on between the two of you but that love-hate relationship the two of you have does not justify…-"

Zulema's body shot forward and her wounds ached instantly but she didn't care. "You shut the fuck up right now before I make you", she snarled at Mala, her voice only slightly strained by the throbbing pain. "First of all, I did not at all _expect_ you to save my life – in fact the plan was that I die in that fucking desert and not bother any of you for the rest of your precious lives. You did save my life however and now I'm here. Sorry for that. So it's most definetly not my fault that Ramala's hitman came here because I could not possibly have considered my survival from four bullet-wounds an option when I thought of this plan. And by the way: your wife here agreed to said plan, even though I did not tell her that I planned to die, so that's that."

She was met with silence but this was far from over. That woman thought she could take on Zulema Zahir? This was what she would have to deal with.

"And also; I'm only trying to tell you that we all are very likely to die if we spend another hour or two at this house, so don't talk about any _audacity_ shit. I'm just stating the facts. Oh, and one last advise – don't come for Maca when you're mad at me. Just don't."

She slowly leaned back again, her eyes still on Mala who was staring at Zulema like she was torn between backing away from her and ripping her stitches back open.

"We got it, Zule, thank you", Saray said.

"Good", Zulema said. "Then pack your stuff and let's go. You do have a car, don't you?"

"Do you really think…-"

"Yes, we do have a car", Saray said, interrupting her wife and placing a hand on her thigh. "I'll pack for us, you for Estrella. Let's go."

When her wife didn't react, Saray sighed. "It doesn't mean we have to stay away from this place forever, Mala. Just for the next month or two."

To that, Zulema chose to say nothing but knew that if it were her, she would never return to this house.

Mala nodded reluctantly and stood up. "Yeah. Fine, let's go, then."

Saray nodded and stood up as well. "In ten minutes at the door to the backyard", she said to Macarena and Zulema. They both nodded in response, looking on as the two women left the room, Mala still muttering something inaudible under her breath.

When they were out of earshot, Macarena turned towards Zulema. "Well", she said. "You did bring across your point."

"What's that supposed to mean, now?", Zulema sighed, not really in the mood for some moral lecture right now.

"Nothing. Just a note to myself: if I ever want to win an argument in less than two minutes, call Zulema."

At that, Zulema let out a snort. "Right", she said. "You're just not intimidating enough, I guess."

"I'm sorry?", Macarena huffed in faked irritation. "That is so not true."

"It is, and you know it."

"Absolutely not."

"Okay then. Intimidate me."

Macarena let out a laugh. "What?"

Zulema shrugged. "Say something. Do something that intimidates me."

"That's ridiculous."

Zulema rolled her eyes. "Sure. You know you can't do it."

Macarena opened her mouth but closed it again, looking at Zulema with an incredulous smile on her lips. "Alright", she said.

She took a quick look towards the door, got up and closed it and went back to the bed from where Zulema was watching her with raised brows. The blonde came closer to the brunette this time and let herself down on the matress with their faces only inches apart. For a second they just looked at each other. Then, Macarena put one hand around Zulema's neck with a start and pushed her against the headboard of the bed. The brunette damned herself for actually having flinched at that and even more for the way the blonde's breath gave her instant goosebumps.

"You let me sit in the passenger seat on our little road-trip", Macarena whispered into the brunette's ear, after pushing strands of black hair out of the way. "Or I'll make you pay. Dearly."

Zulema took a clipped breath. Macarena's grip on her throat wasn't too tight but it was… something, really. The brunette's head suddenly felt lighter than it was and she found it hard to formulate a witful answer.

"Really?", she said, concentrated to keep her voice calm. "How would you make me pay?"

The blonde let her other hand slide through Zulema's hair and stopped at the back of her head. A shiver ran down the brunette's spine and she found herself leaning into the touch against her own will.

"I'd find a way", Macarena hummed. "I promise you that."

Her fingers at Zulema's throat started drawing circles on the brunette's skin. Her face moved even closer to Zulema's and the brunette had to remind herself to breathe. Their cheeks were nearly touching when the blonde whispered; "And you know I never break my promises."

And with that, she let go of Zulema, leaned back and the spell was broken. The brunette took a deep breath. Macarena looked at her expectantly. "Well?", she asked.

Zulema licked her lips and shook her head, adjusting her position on the bed. "Not indimidated at all."

Macarena let out a laugh. "Come on, now. You could at least say a little bit."

"Nope. Just not the case."

"You're lying."

"I'm not lying, _rubia._ Unless you think a puppy that wants food is intimidating - then I would agree that you are as well."

Macarena let her head fall back and closed her eyes. "I am intimidating and I will not let you tell me anyhing else."

"You know, now that I think about it, even a puppy would be more…-"

She was cut off by a pair of lips smashing into hers. For a moment, she thought this would just be some sort of prank kiss. Because that was what she would always do to others. But it was not. It was one hell of a real kiss. Macarena's hand went back into Zulema's hair, pulling her closer and placing it just at the right spot. A chill ran down Zulema's spine that actually made her upper body shiver and her breath got caught in her throat. Their lips seemed to perfectly harmonize with each other as did their tounges, as if they would do this every day. Which they absolutely did not do. In fact, this was a first for them; even in their night on extasy they had not kissed properly even once. On purpose. But now… they did. And Zulema could not say that she wasn't enjoying it. When Macarena eventually pulled away, it was for both of them to catch their breath.

"Did _that_ intimidate you?", the blonde asked.

Zulema inhaled deeply before answering. "You won't believe me anyway, will you?"

"It did", Macarena said firmly. She slowly distangled her fingers from Zulema's hair and shrugged lightly. "But it's okay if you won't admit it."

"I hate you", Zulema said dryly.

"I know", Macarena answered with a smirk. "But you don't mean that."

"Where does all that self-confidence come from, _rubia,_ it's highly irritating, really."

The blonde let out a laugh. "Sure. Like confience would ever irritate you of all people."

"Yeah, whatever. Keep on that act, maybe I can soon find it entertaining. Okay, now, you really want to take the passenger seat?"

"Of course not", Macarena said while pushing herself off the matress. "You take it. I'm not the one who can barely sit upright because my whole body consists of stitches."

Zulema nodded. "Right, I already suspected you would say some caring shit like that."

Macarena let out a sigh. "Please don't say you want to argue about this now."

Zulema raised her brows. "No. Not at all."

The blonde smirked and took a step closer. "Because you're afraid that I'll _intimidate_ you and win the argument?"

"Oh, just shut up."

Macarena let out a laugh and Zulema let out a chuckle as well.

"Now, will you help me up at least?", the brunette asked. "Or why are you still here?"

"Just for that", Macarena said while slightly shaking her head, still smiling.

When they had their guns and other few belongings at they ready, they made their way towards the door where Saray, Mala and Estrella were already waiting for them.

"I'll drive", Saray said, pulling open the door. "Zulema, you take the passenger seat. No discussion on that, alright?"

Zulema raised her brows while Macarena held back a snort. "Of course not", the brunette said.

Saray gave the two of them a short look, then she ushered everyone to the car.

"Will you stop grinning like that?", Zulema said when Macarena next to her just wouldn't stop smiling.

"No", Macarena said.

Zulema looked at her, shaking her head. "You are really enjoying this, huh?"

"Yep", Macarena said. "Absolutely."

Zulema let out a sigh. What the hell had she gotten herself into now?


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year, everyone, I hope you're all feeling well!  
> New chapter to celebrate the new year, I guess - enjoy :)

"So we're driving to the house of…?", Macarena asked from the backseat once again as soon as they were on the highway. She still hadn't understood it.

"My great-cousin's friend who has died a few months ago. The house has been empty since then."

"And you know that because…?"

"Because my great-cousin's friend does not have any family and gave the house to my great-cousin when he died."

"But where's your great-cousin, then?"

Saray let out a sigh. "Macarena, you've really never had contact with big families, did you?"

"Well, no."

"My great-cousin told me on the phone a few weeks ago that I could use the house whenever I wanted to – he got four children, a wife and cares for his mother who lives with them. They won't move into a house in which a single old man has lived."

"But we will", Mala murmured from her seat at the window.

"Yes", Saray said. "Because we don't have another option."

"Sure", Mala said.

Macarena shot the woman sitting on the other side of Estrella a look. She was still mad, that was for sure.

"How long do we have to drive?", Estrella piped up from the middle seat.

"Some more time, honey", Saray said, briefly glancing back towards her daughter.

"Alright", Estrella said. She paused, then she spoke up again, a bit more careful this time. "Zulema?"

Macarena closed her eyes. She prayed that Zulema would not be in a sour mood right now which was hard to tell since she hadn't spoken up once since they had left the cottage half an hour ago.

"That's me", Zulema said with a sigh, turning her head towards the girl. Her eyes were shining in the darkness of the car like two gems.

"Did you kill the man in our backyard?" 

Zulema's eyes widened in surprise. She looked at Macarena who was also slightly shocked by the sudden question and then at Saray who gripped the steering wheel a bit tighter. Mala took her daughter by the shoulders.

"He's gone now, that's all that matters", the woman said with a soothing rub of Estrella's shoulders.

"Yeah, I know", Estrella said. "But gone… forever?"

Mala opened her mouth again but Zulema was faster to answer the girl's question. "Yes, I killed him. Which means that he is gone forever, so no need to worry, _cariño_."

Mala stared at Zulema with pure disdain in her eyes. "The last sentence would have been enough to answer her question."

"Well, she specifically asked if I killed him, didn't she? Didn't you, sweetheart?"

"She is _a child."_

"I'm not a baby, Mamá!", Estrella exclaimed.

"But you are also far from an adult."

"Oh, please", Zulema said. "She can handle that."

"And that's for you to decide because…?"

"Mala, por favor", Saray said from the driver's seat, shooting her wife a glare in the mirror.

"No, Saray, I'm sorry, but this is our child and…-"

"And she asked whether Zulema killed the man or not, which Zulema answered with yes", Saray interrupted her. "I don't see the problem."

Mala let out a snort. "Of course not." She leaned back in her seat, crossing her arms over her chest.

"What's that supposed to mean, now?", Saray asked.

Zulema rolled her eyes before shortly locking glances with Macarena and then turning back to the front. 

"Nothing. I just knew you'd have your _hermana's_ back." Mala emphased on the _hermana_ as if it were a curse.

Zulema closed her eyes and sighed " _Dios mio_ " while Macarena let her body sink even deeper into her seat. An argument between a married couple on a God-knows-how-long car ride. What more could you wish for?

"Que coño, Mala? What are we even argumenting about here?"

"Maybe the fact that you dropped everything the second she came?"

"I'm _here_ and again, I didn't ask to…-"

"You shut up, for once", Mala interrupted Zulema and Macarena knew instantly that she had made a mistake with that. The brunette grew rigid in her seat, every fibre of her body on high alert. And Macarena knew that this happened when Zulema was at her most dangerous.

"What did you just say to me?", the brunette asked in almost a humming voice but Macarena knew that she was just hardly managing to contain her anger.

"I told you to shut – the fuck – up."

"Language", Saray admonished, inclining her head towards Estrella but neither her wife nor Zulema shot her even as much as a recognizing glance.

Instead, Zulema slowly turned around to face Mala again. As slowly as a lioness on the hunt in the moment before taking off into a big leap to slash the throat of their prey.

"And you think you get to talk to me like that?", Zulema asked, her voice vibrating in a very low octave.

"I do", Mala said while leaning forward, brining her face closer to Zulema's. And Macarena knew that this would be her final mistake. But she even put one on the top; "Because you're nothing more than a twisted ex-prisoner who is worth less than…-"

Macarena was just in time to grab Estrella and cover the girl's eyes with her hand when Zulema's body shot forward and her head collided with the other woman's nose. Mala groaned in pain as her upper body was pushed backwards by the force of the headbutt and covered her nose with her hands but the blood was already running down her chin.

" _Stop it! Coño!",_ Saray cried out and with one swift movement she grabbed Zulema's shirt and pushed her back in the seat, making the brunette let out a suppressed sound of pain as well when her body hit the seat with a thud, but Saray didn't seam to care about that. Instead, she took a quick look into the rearview mirror, turned the steering wheel to the side and stepped down on the breaks with so much force that Macarena for a brief moment thought they would all smash through the windshield.

But they did not.

The car stood still within seconds and the only audible sounds were a whimper from Estrella and a moan from Zulema who Macarena could see loosening her seatbelt with shaking fingers, letting out a small gasp when it was removed from her upper body. Even Macarena found the seatbelt cutting a little bit too tight into her skin after having secured her from flying straight out of her seat by the impact of the sudded stop so she could only imagine how painful it must have been for Zulema whose whole upper body was consisting of stitches at the moment.

"Zule", Maca said, reaching out to touch the brunette's shoulder in front of her. "Are you…-"

"No", Saray snarled, turning around to face Macarena who was still holding Estrella in her left arm. "She's not the victim in this. She's not and you know it. Is it broken?", she asked, directing her gaze at her wife who was still holding her nose.

Mala carefully let her fingers slide over it while holding a sleeve under her nostrils to stop the blood from running down her face. "No, I don't think so", Mala said muffledly. "Just hurts like hell. And bleeds like it."

Saray nodded. "Alright", she said. "Estrellita, _cariño_ , are you alright?"

The girl had her head buried in Macarena's side but she caught herself quickly. "Yeah", she said, slowly straightening her back. "Fine."

"Good", Saray said with a sigh. "And you", she said, turning around again and facing the brunette beside her. "Get your _fucking_ anger contained. This isn't prison, Zulema, we're not your lackeys and there is a child in this car, for heaven's sake, so pull it together. And don't ever, _ever,_ touch my wife again. Understood?"

Zulema took a shallow breath and nodded, her eyes closed. Macarena still had her hand on the brunette's shoulder and squeezed it lightly. Zulema's silence worried her – it wasn't like her to just take a scolding like that.

"Alright", Saray said, turning the key in the ignition lock to start the engine again.

"Saray", Macarena said sharply. The _gitana_ turned around, her brows raised. Macarena shook her head, frowning. "Give her a moment", she said with a nod towards Zulema.

Saray rolled her eyes, turning back to the front again.

"You literally just pulled the breaks when driving like 100 kilometer per hour, give her a fucking moment to breathe", Macarena said, her voice growing louder with each word.

"She could have avoided this if she had just tried to control her temper for once", Saray said in an equal volume, her eyes still directed at the emptiness in front of her. 

"That doesn't change the fact that we can all be lucky if the seatbelt didn't tear her stitches open completely."

"I don't see why I should be lucky about that", Mala mumbled and Macarena nearly slapped her out of pure anger.

"Because she just saved all our lives half an hour ago by killing that man, yours and your daughter's included", Macarena snapped. She could understand the woman's anger towards Zulema for turning her life upside down all too well – to be precise, she had once felt exactly the same – but some of the things Mala had said today had been way below the belt.

Mala just leaned back in her seat in response, tilting her head upwards to stop the blood-flow.

Macarena let out a sigh and squeezed Zulema's shoulder again. "You alright?"

Finally, she recieved an answer from the brunette. A tight nod. Not very convincing.

"Sure?"

Another nod, then a twitch of the body. "Let me just…", Zulema mumbled, her fingers shakily grabbing the doorhandle and pulling it open. She pushed the door open with her foot, squeezing her eyes shut at the effort it took.

"Alright, wait", Macarena said, quickly opening her door as well. She stepped outside onto grass that grew next to the side of the road and managed to step beside the brunette and get a hold of her upper body just in time when Zulema leaned over and threw up.

Holding the woman by the shoulder with one hand, Macarena grabbed the long strands of black hair with the other hand, holding them together behind the back of the brunette who was still heaving.

"It's alright", Macarena said, holding Zulema's shoulder a bit more firmly when the brunette caught her breath, her limbs shaking. "I got you."

Zulema nodded, her breathing clipped. She shortly looked up at Macarena, finding her glance within seconds. "I need to… sit down for a second", she said, her voice rough. "Can you…-"

"Of course", Macarena said, understanding the brunette even with few words. "Come on." The blonde let go of the dark hair and placed both her hands under the brunette's shoulders.

"Ready?"

Zulema nodded sharply.

Macarena pulled her up, helping her stand up just to quickly grab a hold of the brunette's waist to guide her away from her own vomit and to the backside of the car where Zulema reached out to lightly touch the backlight, nodding. The blonde carefully lowered the other woman to the ground, going down with her to make sure the final bit wouldn't be rough. Zulema didn't make a sound throughout it all. It was only when they were both sitting that a small moan escaped her.

"How bad is it?", Macarena asked, her eyes searching Zulema's.

"I've had worse", the bruntte pushed out. Her hands moved towards her shirt and she carefully lifted it up. "Blood?", she asked.

Macarena inhaled deeply when she saw the clinical white of the bandages. "No", she said.

Zulema nodded, letting her shirt fall down again. Her breathing was still clipped and in her face Macarena could see the effort it took for the brunette to breathe through the obvious pain.

"Fuck", Zulema breathed, leaning her head against the car and turning it towards Macarena. "This sucks."

The blonde put on a weak smile. "Yeah. Did you really have worse than four bullet wounds, though?" 

Zulema let out a half-hearted snort, running one hand over her face. "I guess not."

"Then you're absolutely allowed to be in pain. Without a question."

"Oh, I know that", Zulema said, directing her gaze at the blackness in front of them. "I just don't _want_ to be in pain."

Macarena shook her head. "That's not possible", she whispered. "You're worrying me, Zulema. You need to be honest about how you're feeling, really."

Zulema nodded. "Yeah. You know how things work with me, Maca. Not like that."

"I know. And that's a shame because it would make things so much easier, God."

Zulema turned her face towards the blonde again, a small smirk pulling on her lips. "Easy? The two of us?"

"Right", Macarena said. "Absurd."

Zulema kept looking at her from the side, her eyes as intense as ever. Her breaths were coming in a more even way now and her hands were only slightly shaking any longer, making Macarena admire the woman once again for her strengh.

"We can't stay with them", Zulema said plainly when she was sure that her voice wouldn't quaver anymore.

Macarena let out a sigh. "I know", she said, nodding.

"I thought you'd fight me on this."

"Not after what just happened. Plus, there is a child involved."

"Right", Zulema said with a sigh. "So; what are we going to do?"

The blonde ran a hand through her hair. If only she knew. "Think of a plan, I guess."

"So we'll drive with them towards that… house of an uncle of a cousin or whatever and go on from there?"

Macarena nodded. "Yeah."

"Alright. Help me up?"

Macarena pushed herself off the ground and then helped Zulema get up. Slowly walking back towards the front of the car, the blonde hoped that at least one of them would come up with a solid plan.

Because that was what they finally needed.


End file.
